Losing Fat/Gaining Muscle at the same time
Of interest:
How to build muscle and lose fat at the same time...
A common goal for many people — especially when they're just starting out on a regular training program — is to lose fat and build muscle at the same time.
The reason that trying to lose fat and build muscle simultaneously is so difficult (but not impossible) is because of the opposing demands these goals impose on your body. To build a lot of new muscle tissue, your body needs energy. In other words, you'll need to overfeed — to consume more calories than you're burning each day. To lose fat, you need to create an energy deficit — to consume fewer calories than you burn.
Build muscle
Of course, it is possible to lose fat and build muscle at the same time, especially if you're just starting an exercise program. But your progress will be a lot slower than if you were to devote all your energy to one goal. So slow, in fact, that it's easy to become discouraged by your lack of progress and throw in the towel.
The fact is, you're far more likely to get better results by splitting your training goals into several phases, and working on one after the other.
The problem comes when deciding which goal to work towards first. The typical approach is to bulk up as quickly as possible by eating everything in sight. Then, you simply shed the fat to reveal the layers of new muscle tissue you've worked so hard to build.
However, Dr. Gilbert Forbes, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Biophysics at New York's University of Rochester, points out that during a period of overfeeding, you'll gain more muscle and less fat if you're lean to start with. In other words, if you want to lose fat and build muscle, focus on losing the fat first.
Lose fat
Fat is simply stored energy. Remember that energy is neither created nor destroyed over time. Although it might change form, the sum total always remains the same.
For example, the chemical energy in gasoline is changed into the same amount of movement energy in a moving car. When you put the brakes on, this movement energy isn't lost. Rather, it's converted into heat energy in the brakes.
The same principle holds true for the food you eat. Green plants use carbon dioxide, water, and the energy from the sun to form a type of sugar called glucose. That's where the word "carbohydrate" comes from. Carbo means "carbon", while hydrate means "water".
When you eat the plant (or the animal that's eaten the plant), the energy then gets stored in your body, in the form of fat, carbohydrate, or protein. When you exercise, this chemical energy is converted into both movement and heat energy.
Overfeeding
When you overfeed for a period of several weeks, it's common to gain a small amount of muscle as well as fat. In fact, obese people are not just overfat. They also have a lot more muscle than their lean counterparts. It's just so well hidden that you can't see it.
Dr. Forbes has discovered that the amount of fat and muscle you gain when you overfeed depends on how much bodyfat you have to start with. He reviewed a number of studies where test subjects were overfed for a minimum of three weeks.
For every 10 pounds of weight gained by an overweight individual, 4 pounds come from lean tissue, and 6 pounds come from fat.
For every 10 pounds of weight gained by a lean individual, 7 pounds come from lean tissue, and 3 pounds come from fat.
Of course, more lean tissue doesn't necessarily equate to more muscle tissue. Stored fluid and carbohydrate also contribute to gains in lean tissue.
These figures shouldn't be taken as an accurate guide as to what you'll gain when you overfeed. After all, everyone has a slightly different definition of what "lean" means. Moreover, the longer the period of overfeeding lasts, the greater the chances are that the weight you gain will be in the form of fat. Rather, these numbers illustrate the principle that it's best to focus all your efforts on losing fat before trying to build muscle.
It's also worth pointing out that a period of controlled overfeeding should be relatively short (no longer than eight weeks). If it lasts too long, your body fat levels will rise, and the proportion of fat weight you gain will increase. And don't try to add weight too quickly. If you're consistently gaining more than one pound in weight each week, the chances are that a lot of it's fat, rather than muscle.
Reference
Forbes, G.B. (2000). Body fat content influences the body composition response to nutrition and exercise. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 904, 359-365
